Combines 9760 sts keeps breaking separator tines in swathed grass

I would consider switching to another brand of combine

I would stop and figure out what is wrong! I have run STS combines for 4 years now and always run them to the max pushing them hard. I have NEVER broke a cylinder tine. Something is not right there. Nod

I have pulled horse shoes, c shanks from cultivators, and other scrap out of the discharge beater with no damage to tines or other components. But I have seen a steel auger tooth take out all the tines and threshing pads when the concaves all closed up tight. I shure wonder if a stone or something is going through.

Joe, we had a brand new 2001 model that broke a tine in the first 5 mins. of use due to a 9_16 socket that was left in the header by the pre-delivery mechanic. So, how you are able to ingest cultivator shanks without damage is beyond me. We have absolutely no stones on our land so I know that is not the problem. I wish you could order these things with heavy duty tines for operators that thresh in tough conditions.

Nod, have you ever combined rank grass seed swaths in July with your stsIJ They are a little tougher to put through than regular crops. These varieties of grass will challenge ANY make and model of combine--we have tried them all. These swaths will regularily break off chunks of the accellerator bars, shear the roll pin on the concave height adjustment gizmo, bend left and right concave support pipes, break off tines (which by the way are now designed to break even easier than previous models) and plug up the chopper. Our combines check out perfect mechanically. I have never understood the theory of casting the tines with a predetermined break point.

lOl. Cutter, you willing to bring your combine and give us a handIJ Bring it on!

Where are you locatedIJ Sounds like you are combining tall fescue that got rained on. If so, did you spray it with growth inhibitorIJ When the grass gets tough and starts to rope or knot up its going to break all kinds of stuff. You're probably not going to find a lot of info on doing grass with the sts. There just has;nt been enough time spent studying the problems and correcting them yet. This is just an opinion, but it looks like the tines are trying to comb the straw through the transport vanes and the stems just wont tear apart. How much would a set of transport vanes costIJ Maybe you could try to cut them down a little so tines dont have to fight the stems so much. The grates should do all the seperating you need, and with the stems being so long and tough, they will still contact the vanes enough to continue rearward movement. Is that an optionIJ Have you been able to do a "quick kill" and shut the machine down loaded to see what the grass looks like in the rotor areaIJ I know when its tough going, you kind of dont want to do that for fear of not getting going again but somehow you have to see what the grass is doing in the rotor.

Hate to ask a really obvious question, but why is something this tough grownIJ What is the use for such a crop other than to break another combine next yearIJ

Old Pokey you have asked some interesting questions. We do not use growth regulators on our crops, not because we would'nt like to, but rather because they are cost prohibitive here in Canada. We feel that the material is definately roping in the rotor cage, probaly full length but the rub bars over the concaves are not designed to break off when the going gets tough. We have considered modifying the vanes but have refrained to date as we like to move our combines quickly from grasses to regular crops. So a minimum of required changes is quite beneficial. Also changing the rotor vanes on a sts is not as easy as a axial flow. We have also considered shortening the tines themselves, removing some of the leverage the material has on them, but are unsure how this would affect separation performance. The seed is relatively easy to thresh out but does present challenges in effecient separation and combine capacity. We do not intentionally shut the combines down midstream however it has occurred from time to time. lOl 99% of the swaths are fine, it is that 1% that has a little ripple in the swath that causes the problems. We try our best to lay a uniform and consistant swath but as you may or may not know, that is very difficult to do in a heavy, lodged grass crop. Wind, if it was easy to do, like everything else, everyone would be doing it and there would be no money in it.

Yes, that is an obvious question. There is good money in grass, because not everyone wants to spend the time to do a tough crop. In a good grass year like this, you will probably triple your profits compared to small grains. Maybe the STS just isn't a tough enough machine to be in the grass. I know that the j.d. walker machines do a good job in tough grass.